Sue Thomas FBeye Season 4-1: Episode 9: Lost & Found Christmas Love
by stfbeyefan
Summary: Sue Jack & Carla visit Wisconsin for Christmas. Meanwhile Bobby & Darcy go to her parents house, & Tara & Caleb visit his parents. Josh Mya Maddy Amy & Sarah all spend the holiday in D.C., & the kids and their families visit D & Donna. Each person receives the most special Christmas gift, whether it's just spending it with loved ones, or getting something unexpected, or mysterious.
1. Chapter 1 CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sue Thomas FBeye or any of its characters, so if you recognize a person from this program or any other (I might put in a cameo here and there), know that I do not own them at all. All scenarios and people that you do not recognize, I own that, though they might be inspired from something else, but in no way is it copying them. If I am missing something in this copyright notice, please let me know! **

**KEY: Italics are a memory, and all caps is ASL. Sorry, some of my ASL grammar is bad. I only know a little ASL, so if anyone knows how to properly say any sentences I write in ASL, please let me know, and I will change it to be how it should be! **

**NOTE: As you can probably tell, I love love at first sight. I also love hate at first sight, then realize you love them later. But it's really hard to write that (at least for me). Anyways, this still will be a mystery, but not case-oriented. It's a romance mystery (ies) and a guessing game as to what the characters are doing. (sorry to everyone who REALLY wanted a case! You'll get that next episode, and many more to come!) By the way, there's A LOT of different stories going on (one for each main character, except for Sue and Jack, who are spending Christmas together, and for Mya, Sarah, Josh, Maddy and Amy, who are also spending Christmas together) so the story's a long one! Also, I based one story part on one of my favorite Christmas songs that I've actually been trying to write a songfic for, for over 5 years. It's a very loose representation of the song, but that song will be the end credit song to this episode. If you can guess the song at any point in the story, I will give you a chapter!**

**CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam!**

?-?

"Come on, honey, Jack is waiting." Carla said to Sue when she came into her bedroom and found her daughter still putting things in her suitcase.

"I know, I'm coming." Sue said as she was zipping up her carry-on.

Carla helped Sue bring her bags down to put them in Jack's car. "What have you got in this thing?" She muttered to herself as she picked up the heaviest bag, not realizing her face was towards Sue.

"Just a couple gifts for Jack's family. From what he's told me about them, I've picked out a few things, then do the rest of my shopping there."

Carla stared at her in shock. "More?"

Sue nodded, walking out her bedroom door.

Jack waved through the windshield when he saw Sue come out the door and look at him. She smiled and waved back, then went to the trunk to put her bag in the back. She frowned when she found that it was full with Jack and Carla's bags.

By this time, Jack got out of the car. He waved to her. "You can put it in the backseat."

Sue nodded, then went to put it in the backseat.

Once Carla came out with her other bag and they all got in the car, they were off.

As they were starting to drive out of the neighborhood, it started to snow. Sue looked up at the small flurries. "I hope the snow doesn't affect our plane." She looked at Jack in the driver's seat. He shook his head.

"Nah, it's not supposed to really start until 'll be fine."

Sue nodded, then smiled. "I can't wait to finally meet your family!"

"ME TOO." He signed, not looking off the road.

?-?

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Josh asked Mya as he walked past her. It was the Friday before Christmas, and almost everyone had left already for their Christmas destinations, except for the two, and Sarah. Tara went to go spend it with Caleb and his family that morning, Myles went up to his family a few days prior, Bobby had just left for the airport to pick up Darcy, and Sue and Jack were off to Wisconsin.

Mya shook her head. "Nothing. Mya doesn't want to spend it with our parents, and I don't blame her. We are all on speaking terms now, but she's afraid the extended time will drastically alter our relationships with them. We're just staying here."

Josh nodded, looking away, and thinking. "How about you spend it with me? By the time I went to book a flight to Michigan it was all booked up, so I'm stuck here. And I'm not driving all the way there, and all the way back."

Mya smiled. "Sure!"

"Do you think I could join you? Drew is coming next week for New Years, so I'm not spending it in Minnesota."

"Ooh, who's Drew?" Mya asked, excited to hear about someone new.

Sarah blushed, looking down. "An old boyfriend."

"You can spend Christmas with us on one condition-you let us meet Drew."

Sarah smiled. "Deal." She went back to her work, but then remembered something. "Oh, did you finish your Christmas shopping?"

Mya shook her head. "No, I've still got a couple more things to find. Some people it's just so hard to find a gift for." Mya frowned, thinking of the impossible gifts.

"How about we go shopping later?" Sarah suggested.

"Sure!" Mya said excitedly.

Just then, Amy came in the bullpen. "SUE GONE?" she asked.

Mya signed yes.

Amy frowned. "ME HAVE GIFT FOR HER."

"SORRY. SHE FAR AWAY. WI." Mya explained.

Amy nodded. "I KNOW."

Once Amy left sadly, Mya's eyes lit up. "I think I just figured out what to give one of my impossible people!" She then started typing furiously on her computer.


	2. Chapter 2

**TRIVIA: What is made in Middleton? (well, not really made anymore. 20-30 years ago, yes. Now, in China. The question should really be, whose headquarters are in Middleton?) Any girl from the US that grew up in the 90's or later should know this question by heart! (lol)**

?-?

"Why hello there." Bobby smiled as Darcy got in his car.

"Hello." She returned.

"You ready?" he asked. She nodded.

"So, tell me about your family." Bobby asked as they were driving down the highway. "I've never met them."

"You haven't?!" she repeated in shock.

Bobby shook his head. "They weren't living in North Carolina at the time that we were together."

Darcy looked out the window, remembering. "Oh, yeah, my Dad hadn't retired yet." She then laughed. "He was a stickler. Finally my Mom convinced him otherwise."

Bobby laughed with her.

"You'll get to meet them and find out soon enough." Darcy said.

"Can't wait." He quickly looked off the road and at Darcy, smiling.

?-?

"Alright, everyone have everything?" Jack asked as he took out the last suitcase out of the trunk. The two women nodded.

"Alright, let's go." And they started walking the long trek through the airport parking lot. Finally they arrived, and found their terminal number as well.

"Ahhh!" Carla said as she plopped down on one of the seats. "It feels good to sit."

Jack chuckled as he sat down next to her, Sue next to him. She wished she could bring Sunny on the plane with her, but she had to go in the cargo area because she was too big, but she was glad Sunny was coming with, no matter how she got to Wisconsin.

Sue watched as Jack sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. She smiled. After almost 20 years, in about 4 hours, she was going to meet the family of the love of her life.

?-?

"Are we there yet?" Tara asked excitedly for the third time.

Caleb laughed. "Almost.

"I can't believe we got almost all the movie done in 4 days."

"You're just a natural born actor." Caleb replied, smiling.

"Am not! No, you bring it out in me." She smiled at him.

"What I can't believe is that we actually filmed anything with only the two of us, and a few extras we recruited on the spot. I will have a lot of editing to do, though. There's a lot of dead recording time, getting ready to film and all."

"I can help you." Tara offered.

Caleb quickly looked at her and not the road for a second and smiled. "I may take you up on that offer."

?-?

D smiled, looking at his Christmas tree. Donna snuck up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Enjoying the view?"

"Mhm." He replied, turning around so he could have his wife facing him. They stood there next to each other in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you remember when the kids were young, and we would have all their gifts under the tree, and they would bug us a week before Christmas to open one gift?" D asked.

Donna nodded. "Do you remember the one year you let them?"

D threw his head back, laughing, then nodded. "Of course. They bugged me every day after that to open more."

After a few more seconds of laughing, D stopped, and just had a smile of his face.

"You OK?" Donna asked, seeing his silence.

He nodded. "I'm just thinking of all the Christmases I've spent with the team."

"You went with them to their annual Christmas lunch yesterday."

"Yeah, but it wasn't the same. I felt like an outsider, yet I belonged."

"It takes time, honey, it takes time." Donna comforted, putting her head on his shoulder.

"I know." He reminded himself.

?-?

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Carla asked, watching Jack navigate the busy streets of Madison. They had landed, and had rented a car to drive the rest of the way.

"Yes, we're almost out of the city." He replied to her. "I can't wait to get out in the county." He muttered to himself.

"You love Wisconsin, don't you?" Sue asked, seeing the light in his eyes since they had landed.

Jack nodded. "It's my hometown. Don't you feel the same when you go home?"

Sue considered it. "I'm happy to be in Ohio, yes, but I think because for most of my life I've either lived in or near my childhood home, it wasn't the same."

Jack nodded in understanding. "My sister's the same way. She lives nearby in Middleton and visits our parents all the time. She doesn't find Wisconsin as exciting as me." Jack chuckled, thinking of a few conversations he'd had with Hailey. "She always wants to travel outside of Wisconsin when they go on vacation."

"Middleton- isn't that the place where they make those dolls?" Carla asked.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, she actually works there. She actually got a job there right out of college. She's been there ever since."

"How long till we get to your parents' house?" Sue asked.

Jack shrugged. "Half hour more, less if there's no traffic. But I highly doubt that, if Madison's any indication."

"Good. I can't wait to meet your family!"

?-?

"What on earth are you doing? You've been on there all afternoon long!" Sarah asked Mya.

Mya shrugged. "Something."

"What?"

"Can't tell you."

"Ok, well then we can't go shopping."

"Why?" Mya said, finally looking up from her computer.

"Can't tell you." Sarah teased.

"Ooh, alright. I'll tell you while we're shopping."

"Good, let's go. It's almost 5, and I want to sneak out before the rush of people want to do the same thing."

Mya laughed. "Alright. Be there in a minute." She replied, clicking a few more buttons on the computer before logging off.


	3. Chapter 3 CONGRATULATIONS Joy4life!

**CONGRATULATIONS Joy4life! Yes! I have special memories with my AG dolls as well. I thoughts since I was writing the story in southern Wisconsin, I'd add a bit of nostalgia from my childhood :)**

**NOTE: This is a fun chapter. We get to meet (almost) everyone's parents! Hopefully I wrote them good, and accurate to what everyone would perceive them to be. It's a big task, creating a ACC that is someone that you know is real, but never was on the show! And I hope I did a good job! Please let me know if what I wrote is similar to what you perceived! :)**

?-?

Sarah frowned. "Come on people! Move!"

Mya laughed. They had driven to Mya's apartment to leave her car, and were driving to the mall. "You do know they have the same idea as us, right?"

"I know." Sarah replied, frustrated. "I just wish they'd move." She muttered. Mya laughed some more.

"Since we're stuck in traffic that won't move, why don't you tell me what you were researching so intently?" Sarah asked, hopeful.

"I told you that I would while we're shopping, not before. You'll have to wait until the mall."

"Ooh! You're mean!" Sarah teased.

"I know. And so are these people."

The both women laughed.

?-?

"And we're here." Darcy said as they pulled into her parent's home. It was just about dinner time, so they hoped they didn't miss it. They both smiled at each other for a few seconds before getting out. Bobby went to the trunk to grab their suitcases while Darcy went to ring the doorbell.

Within seconds, Meagan answered the door. "Hi, Mom." Darcy smiled when she saw her mother.

"Darcy! It's so wonderful to see you! And this must be Bobby!" Meagan said as she saw Bobby come along beside her daughter, suitcases in hand. Bobby nodded his hello.

Darcy blushed like a young girl bringing her date home for the first time. "Yes. May we come in?"

"Of course!" Meagan said as she let the two in.

"Ron! Darcy's here!" Meagan yelled for her husband.

Ron came out from the kitchen, potholders in hand.

"Darcy!" he came over to hug her daughter, smiling. When he turned to Bobby, he frowned and shook his hand.

"Ron," Meagan said as she slapped his arm. "Be nice."

"I am being nice." He said gruffly, eyeing Bobby.

"C'mon, I'll help you get your things to your room." Meagan said to her daughter, leaving the two men in the hallway.

"I'll show you to yours." He grumbled, leading him into the living room. He waved his hand to the couch. Bobby looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You didn't expect us to put you with Darcy, did you?" he asked, interrogating him a bit.

"No, sir. I just uh," Bobby paused, thinking of the right words to say.

"Dad, Bobby just went through a traumatic experience, including a broken leg a few months ago. Is there any way he could have his own bed?" Darcy interceded, coming into the living room.

"I suppose." Ron considered. "But you need to promise that you won't go sneaking out of your bedroom in the middle of the night."

"Fine by me." Bobby replied, grateful he would have an actual bed opposed to the couch.

Ron led him upstairs to a small room at the end of the hallway. "Here you go." He grumbled before going back downstairs.

"Thank you sir." Bobby replied.

?-?

Tara laughed hard while trying to swallow her food. If she thought Caleb was funny, she was desperately wrong. She could see where he got his humor-from his Dad, Pete. They were two peas in a pod.

Caleb and Pete got up to go in the kitchen, so his mother, Patty used the opportunity to talk with Tara.

"He really likes you, you know. You're all he talks about."

Tara looked down, smiling.

"Just don't break his heart. He's had it broken too many times."

She looked up. "What do you mean?"

Just then, Caleb came back in the room, Pete following soon after.

"Did my Dad tell you when he got backstage to a Chris Tomlin concert?"

"Oh? How did you get there?" Tara asked.

"Well," Pete started. "Patty loves Chris Tomlin, so I decided I wanted to surprise her and get her some concert tickets. Well, we were looking for the doorway to our seats, and somehow the doorway we went through went backstage."

"I told him we were in the wrong area. It was a long hallway going down. I told him that our seats were up towards the back, not close to the front." Patty interrupted.

"Nevertheless, I told her that this was where our seats were. So we continued down. Soon enough, we came to some doors. Who comes out of one door? Chris. Patty was so shocked."

"I immediately went up to him, talking 100 miles a minute. I'm sure he thought I was crazy. Finally he stopped me, and I actually got his autograph!" Patty interrupted, finishing the story.

"That is so neat!" Tara said.

"Pete nodded. "She keeps it in a frame in the living room."

"I will have to check that out!" Tara said, smiling.

?-?

"We're here!" Jack announced, pulling into the driveway. Sue was napping, so as soon as he parked the car, he gently shook her shoulder. "We're here." He repeated softly when she looked at him.

Sue sleepily looked around. "Wow, already? It feels like I just went to sleep."

Jack chuckled. "I told you it wasn't that far."

With that, everyone got out of the rental, and took their bags.

"Jack!" A woman yelled as she ran out the door, pulling on a sweater as she ran.

"Mom, hi." He said, pulling her into a hug once she got to him.

Sunny hopped out of the car, wanting to jump to say hello to the new person.

"Sunny, no." Sue said, pulling on her leash.

"It's so good to see you!" she said to him. "Hi, I'm Connie, Jack's Mom." She said to Sue and Carla.

"Carla." She said, shaking Connie's hand.

"Mom, this is Sue." Jack said, waving towards Sue.

Sue was trying to follow what was going on, but her still sleepy eyes couldn't follow, and Sunny was pulling. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Connie." She repeated, shaking Sue's hand.

"Connie, hi." She smiled as she shook her hand.

"Can I help you with your stuff?"

Sue gratefully smiled and nodded.

"You forgot to mention how pretty she was! No wonder you've been pining for her all this time." Connie quietly said as she walked next to her son into the house. Jack just embarrassedly laughed.

When Jack came into the house, he was shocked at what he saw. "Uncle Bob! It's been forever!" he exclaimed, going up to give his uncle a hug.

"This was your surprise I was telling you about on the phone the other day!" Connie said proudly.

"Hi, Jack, how are you doing?" he asked after the hug. "I see you've been well." he joked, seeing Sue and Carla, jabbing him. Jack didn't really laugh.

"Bob!" Connie scolded.

"Dad," Jack said, going up to his Dad, which was sitting on the couch.

"Jack, why don't you introduce us to your friends here." Bill said, nodding towards the new women.

"This is my Dad, Bill, and my uncle, Bob." Jack said, fingerspelling the names, just in case Sue didn't catch them. "Everyone, this is Sue, and her Mom, Carla."

"What are you doing with your hands there," Bob asked, looking a bit confused.

"Sue is Deaf, so I was fingerspelling your names so that she could know your names."

"So, like, she doesn't speak?"

"She does to!" Carla furiously defended, walking up to Bob.

"Mom, no." Sue said, pulling on her mother's arm to no avail.

"She's the most intelligent woman I know." Carla said proudly to Bob's face, staring him down. "She works at the FBI!"

"I didn't mean anything by it! I was just asking. I've never met a Deaf person before." Bob said, startled by Carla's defensiveness.

"Do you have an enclosed backyard where I could let Sunny do her business? She hasn't gone since we got out of Madison." Sue asked Connie.

"Sure!" she led them through the house to the kitchen, where the backdoor was. "We used to have a little Yorkie, but Figaro died this past year." Connie said, sadly thinking of her dog.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sue said while she unhooked Sunny's leash and let her out in the yard.

"We still have some treats, if you'd like to use them!" she said as she went into the kitchen cabinets. Once she found them in the back of one cabinet, she handed them to Sue.

"Thanks." She smiled.

Mom, can you come in here for a minute?" Jack yelled.

"Of course, honey." She yelled, then smiled at Sue before walking back into the living room. Sue went over to the door to let Sunny back in the house.

Once his Mom was in the living room, Jack said, "I need you all to understand some things. Sue is Deaf, but she can read lips if she can see them. If she can't, she won't understand anything. And unless it's really important, she won't tell you that she didn't catch something. She will just improvise, so please, be conscious about that. If you need her attention, just wave at her, or tap her shoulder lightly. If she needs anything else specific, she will let you know."

"How do you know her? I'm sorry, living in Arizona doesn't keep me updated with things like this." Bob asked.

"We work together. She helps us when we either can't wire someone with a mic, or get silent video feeds." Jack explained. "She's a great help to us."

"What he is not explaining is that without Jack, I wouldn't be back at the FBI." Sue said, coming back into the living room, Sunny at her side.

"Oh?" Connie replied. She knew some by what her son didn't say, but wanted to hear the whole story.

"I left the FBI 10 years ago because my Dad died, and a few months ago, he found me and convinced me to help them out again." She said smiling, not looking away from Jack. He smiled back at her, looking a bit embarrassed.

"How about we get settled in our rooms?" Carla said, touching her daughter's shoulder.

Sue nodded in response.


	4. Chapter 4

**NOTE TO JeanneJam: I wasn't asking if they make sense, rather, how you imagine. When you read/watch something, you get an idea of how someone who is mentioned that is not on screen is. I just want to see if the way I think is like how everyone else thinks their families are (or at least Jack and Darcy's). Just to see if we all think alike or not, just for fun. If it helps, I think the perfect person to play Connie would be Susan Hogan. I usually don't get ideas for actors when I'm writing, but I sort-of based Connie on the characters she often plays in Hallmarks. I don't know. She just seems like the perfect fit. Other than the original actors playing their parts, I don't have any particulars of who should play anyone else.**

**TRIVIA: There is a Sue actor trivia that references a Doc character that they played in this chapter. (same actor in both shows. I reference who they played in Doc [which I think who they played in Sue was a trivia by the Johnsons in itself. I found a few of those, and am going to post those as trivias here!])Who/what is it?**

?-?

"And here she is when she was five." Meagan proudly showed Bobby the picture in the photo album.

"Mom, I don't think he wants to see anymore." Darcy said, annoyed.

"Sure I do! What's this one?" Bobby asked, pointing to a picture where 5 year old Darcy was sitting behind a homemade news reporter desk, a pointer in hand, pointing towards a miniature weather map.

Darcy laughed. "When I was little, I dreamed of being a news reporter on TV. I would watch the evening news, then re-tell the weather to my parents every night."

The D'Angelo's chuckled at the memory.

Bobby smiled widely. "That's sweet. Now you're a newspaper reporter.

"Yep." Darcy nodded.

Ron got up. "Well, it's about time we go to bed."

"Dad, it's still early." Darcy complained.

"Early to bed, early to rise, honey." He said softly, then glared at Bobby.

"Let's go to bed." Bobby quietly said, not wanting to upset Ron any more than he had already.

?-?

"So are you going to finally tell me?" Sarah asked. The mall was about to close, and Mya still didn't tell her what she was researching. She was trying so hard to be patient, but patience flew out the door long ago.

Mya laughed. "Yes."

"Well?"

"I'm doing some research as a gift to someone."

"Who?" Sarah asked.

"Amy."

"What are you researching?"

"Now that, you will have to wait."

"You promised!" Sarah pouted.

"I promised I would tell you what I was doing. I told you. Research. I even gave you who I was researching for as a bonus."

"But-"

"But nothing. If I tell you, you will just go tell her, and she will lose the surprise."

"If I promise-" Sarah started.

"No." Mya interrupted, laughing.

?-?

"I like your parents, except for Ron." Bobby said in the hallway before he and Darcy parted for their separate rooms that night.

"I thought you might." Darcy replied. "And he'll grow on you. He just needs to see how you really are a gentleman."

"Mhm, we'll see."

Darcy chuckled. "By the time we leave, you two will be best friends. You two are so much alike."

"Really? I saw no resemblance. All through dinner, he was staring at me. Wouldn't look at anything else, not even his own food."

"And you saw no resemblance?" Darcy teased. "You do the same with me and other guys. Sometimes you take overprotective way too far. So does my Dad."

"Am I really that bad?" Bobby asked.

"Worse." She replied. "But sometimes that's what I love about you."

Bobby chuckled. "Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight." She replied, going into her room. After a few seconds of standing outside her rom to consider what she had said, he went into his own room.

?-?

Tara laid in bed, thinking. She couldn't sleep. All she could do was smile. This Christmas was going to be the best yet. Caleb's family was so amazing. She couldn't wait to do all the traditions they did up to Christmas. First one on the list: Christmas tree cutting in the morning. She couldn't wait.

?-?

In Wisconsin, the Hudson family was playing a loud version of Monopoly.

"Oho! So you think you can buy out Park Place?" Bill said to his wife.

"I can, and I did!" she proudly said as she handed the money to Carla, who was the banker. Carla in turn gave Connie the Park Place card.

"Well, you're on, darlin'" he played with her.

Jack chuckled as he watched their antics. He was sitting on the couch, with Sue asleep on his shoulder. Even though it was only 9:30 in Wisconsin, it was 10:30 in their brains, since D.C. was in the Eastern time zone. Besides, it was a long day.

"You've landed on a railroad. Buy it?" Bill asked his son. He was moving Jack's piece since he couldn't really move with Sue leaning against him, and Jack didn't want to wake her up.

"Yeah, I've got to beat out my Uncle here." He teased. Bob laughed in response.

Soon enough, it was 11:00, and the game was pretty much over, with Connie in the lead. Jack gently shook Sue.

"TIME FOR SLEEP." he signed. She sleepily nodded in response.

Carla helped her daughter up to bed, while the Hudson's stayed downstairs to put away the game and to shut off the lights.

"She's one special woman," Connie said, seeing her son look of after Sue and her Mom, walking up the stairs. Jack nodded, and Connie smiled at her son, and walked into the kitchen.

"That she is, but you haven't seen nothing yet." He quietly said in response.


	5. Chapter 5

**NOTE TO phyl7375: Nope, the answer is Polly Shannon. She played a TV reporter in season 1 (the year before Sue started), and I think the Johnsons put that little easter egg in Sue, having her play a newspaper reporter (Darcy). I just thought that was funny. And you probably should get a little refresher on Doc, since there are a lot of Doc-Sue easter eggs the Johnsons put in that I will be using, including one day, one regarding Howie! (If I figure out how exactly to use it, it will be an hysterical shot!) And about Jack's Mom, I haven't read any fanfics with her in them yet, but I'm still in the late 2000's. I just haven't had the time to read, with life, and writing this fanfic (of which I wish I had more time to write, lol) but I will get to them one day! And about your perception, it is very much how I see her, so I guess all of us think of her in the same way. Now I wish we could actually meet her, and see if all of us are correct! That would be fun.**

?-?

7 AM Saturday morning, it was time to get up to go Christmas tree hunting. Tara was up and ready within 15 minutes.

"Good morning!" she exclaimed as she came in the kitchen "Mhmmm, what smells so good?"

"My Mom's famous Christmas tree pancakes." Caleb answered.

"They're not famous!" Patty countered.

"They're famous to me." Pete said, coming into the kitchen and kissing his wife good morning.

Tara smiled at the greeting. It was so nice to see the couple still so in love after being married all these years.

"What kind of tree do you get, Tara?" Pete asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Tara smiled. "The little plastic kind that you stick on a coffee table."

The group laughed.

"The first year I was married to Stanley we had a big tree, but not the year after. By the third Christmas we were already divorced." Tara said, thinking back to that time in her life.

"But now you can help us find the biggest tree!" Caleb replied, bringing her back to the present.

Tara nodded excitedly.

?-?

"Who can be ringing the doorbell at 7 in the morning." Mya grumbled as she shuffled to the front door.

"Surprise!" Katie exclaimed.

"Don't shout so loud. It's still early." Mya said, holding her head. "What are you doing here?" she asked as her friend came into the apartment's living room.

"I came to spend Christmas with you guys!" Katie said brightly.

"What about your own family?"

Katie shrugged. "I've spent many a Christmas with them."

"That's what you said for Thanksgiving. What's going on?" Mya said, waking up fully, concerned for her friend.

"I just, need a break."

"From what?" Mya asked.

"The pushing and prodding of parents."

"Tell me about it." Mya muttered.

"What's this?" Katie asked, diverting the subject, picking up a pile of papers tied with ribbon.

"Nothing." Mya said, taking the papers and shoving it in the empty drawer underneath the lampstand. "Let's talk about you."

"I don't want to talk about me!" Katie complained.

"Alright-for now. I will be asking more questions later." Mya warned, walking to the kitchen. "Since you woke me up, I miswell eat. You want anything?"

"How about a piece of toast?" Katie suggested, following her into the kitchen.

"You have to have more than that! How about some eggs with that?"

Katie shrugged. "Sure."

?-?

"Are you going to come to breakfast?"

"In a minute." Myles said to his sister, happily sitting by the warm fireplace, cup of coffee in his hands.

"Alright, but the pancakes I made will be cold."

"I always love your cold pancakes," he played with her.

"Ooh," she said, going back into the kitchen.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" he said, getting up.

"Hi." Cathi said.

"Hi! You're just in time for my sister's pancakes.

"Sounds good." Cathi replied, coming into the house and taking her coat off. "And smells good, too!" she smiled.

"Mhm, they are. Join us?"

"Of course!" Cathi said, taking his hand, walking in the kitchen.

?-?

"He hates me." Bobby said as he and Darcy drove into town the next morning. The D'Angelo's ran out of cream for coffee, so the two volunteered to go get it to have some private time.

"He doesn't hate you."

"Did you see how he was staring at me all through breakfast?" Bobby asked, quickly looking at Darcy.

"Like I said before, he just needs to know you. Then he'll like you."

"Well, like I said before, he hates me."

Darcy smiled at his stubbornness of his opinion.

?-?

Sue woke up to the most wonderful smell she had ever smelled. "Mhm, what is that?" she said to Sunny, who was sleeping next to the bed. Sunny quietly ruffed.

"How about we go see?" she replied, getting out of bed. Sunny went over by the bedroom door, walking in circles and wagging her tail.

"Hold, on, hold on, I'm coming." Sue smiled at her furry friend.

?-?

"How about this one?" Tara suggested to the group. Patty analyzed the tree. "Mmm, nope, it's a little too crooked."

Tara shrugged. "Oh well." They had been around the tree farm at least twice, but still hadn't fund the "perfect" tree.

"They'll find it. Just give them time." Caleb said, coming up to his girl.

"How long does that take?" she asked.

Caleb laughed. "A while sometimes."

Tara sighed. It looks like she was going to be there for quite a while.

?-?

"What smells so good?" Sue asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Breakfast!" Bob happily exclaimed. Sue chuckled at his excitement.

"It's a combination of mine and your Mom's breakfast foods." Connie said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch all of that." Sue said, seeing the last half of the sentence.

Jack, who was coming through the doorway and heard what his Mom said, interpreted for her. Sue nodded in understanding.

"How do you do that?" Connie said, in awe of her son.

"Do what?" Jack asked, confused.

"Know what signs to use."

"It's just like any language. You just don't use verbal words."

"Amazing." She replied, then went back to cooking with Carla

"GOOD MORNING." Sue signed, sitting next to Jack.

"GOOD MORNING." He replied. "YOU WANT GO OUT LATER YOU?"

Sue signed yes excitedly. "ME WANT SEE YOUR DAD MUSEUM."

"I don't know that sign." Jack replied.

Sue fingerspelled it.

"Oh!" Jack laughed. "It's nothing special. And my Dad doesn't own it."

"But I want to see it."

Jack shrugged. "OK."

?-?

"Bobby, come on! We've been having this argument since we left the house!" Darcy said, exacerbated. "Give it a bit of time." She then said more quietly.

"Alright. I'll give it until Christmas Eve." He said as he grabbed the carton of large cream. "If he doesn't show that he likes me by then, then I win the argument." He pointed at her, then walked away.

"Alright, you win the argument." She replied, relived that the argument was over-for now.

?-?

"Did you used to live on Beverly Lane?... no?...OK, thanks for your time." Mya said, hanging up her phone.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked.

"Just something for a gift." She mumbled, staring at her computer.

"Hey Katie, you wanna go out and make a snowman with me at the park down the street?" Maddy asked, all bundled up, ready for the snow.

"Sure, what about Mya?" Katie replied.

"She doesn't like the snow, and besides, even if she did, she wouldn't do it. When she's researching something, she doesn't want to be bothered." Maddy explained.

"You got that right." Mya mumbled, hearing the conversation.

Maddy looked at her sister to make sure she wasn't looking at her, then signed to Katie. "ONE PERSON MAKE HER GO OUT, WHO? J-O-S-H."

"WHO?" Katie signed.

"TELL YOU LATER" she then motioned for Katie to get her coat on and follow her.


	6. Chapter 6

**NOTE: Just so you know, I kind-of took the liberty about the museum. Black Earth really does have a museum (actually 2) but the one is a children's museum, and the other is a depot museum, two museums I highly doubt Jack and Sue would go to. I sort-of imagine the museum they go to as a history of the town, and surrounding area museum. Many of the locations I mention in town are real places in the town, such as the pond, though I might take the liberty on what is being done with it (like the restaurant in the next chapter. There's a real restaurant there, but don't ask me who owns it. I highly doubt it's my ACC, lol )Writing about this random town makes me want to go travel there, don't you? (and if anyone lives or has traveled there, please let me know if I'm doing a good job of describing the town through a satellite map!)**

?-?

"That's the one!" Pete finally said after traveling around the tree farm for two hours.

"Perfect, let's go back." Tara said, starting to walk towards the way out.

"Hold on, now it's time for hot chocolate." Patty said.

"Now that, I like." Tara smiled, happy to get something warm after being in the cold for so long.

?-?

"What are you guys doing?" Josh asked, laughing.

Hearing the new voice, Katie looked up from the snowball fight she and Maddy were having. Seeing Katie look away, Maddy followed.

""Josh! Hi!" Maddy exclaimed.

"What are you doing?" he repeated.

"Having a snowball fight! Want to join us?"

"Where's Mya?"

"She's at home, researching." Maddy replied.

"Ah." Josh replied, nodding. "Why don't I go get her, and we'll all have that snowball fight?"

"Sure!" Maddy exclaimed.

Once Josh got out of hearing distance, Maddy said to Katie, "Remember what I said about getting Mya out of the house?" Katie nodded. "That's it. Or rather, that's him."

Katie nodded and smiled.

?-?

"This has to be the best breakfast I've ever had!" Sue exclaimed, complementing the two mothers.

"Yes, great breakfast." Bob said. All he got was a glare from Carla.

When Sue too her last bite, Jack tapped her shoulder. "YOU READY GO YOU?"

She nodded. With that, the two got up, thanked them for their breakfasts, and left the kitchen.

"I wonder why my Mom hates your uncle." Sue said in the car.

Jack laughed. "She doesn't hate him!" he said as he drove into the main part of town.

"Have you seen the looks she's given him the whole time we've been here?" Sue countered.

Jack considered this. "I wouldn't say hate, more like dislike."

Sue looked suspiciously at him. "You're just saying that because you like Bob, so you're biased."

" For your information, I like both your Mom and Uncle Bob." He laughed as he pulled into a parking spot. "Welcome to downtown Black Earth." He smiled at her.

Sue looked around, smiling. "It's cute!"

"Cute?" he asked when she looked at him, laughing. She nodded.

"Is that the museum?" she asked, pointing to a building up ahead. Jack nodded. "Let's go. I can't wait to see inside!" she smiled at him, then got out of the car. They got out of the car and walked to the museum.

"Sam!" Jack exclaimed, walking in the museum with Sue.

"Jack!" Sam replied excitedly. "It's been too long!"

Sue watched the exchange fondly.

"Sam, this is uh, my girlfriend, Sue." It was so good to actually say that finally, other than being undercover.

"Hi Sue." Sam said to her.

"Hi!" Sue said.

Jack touched Sue's shoulder. "Sam was my hockey coach."

"Oh!" she exclaimed excitedly. She then turned to Sam. "It's so nice to meet you! Jack's talked a few times about his hockey days."

"He was a good player." Sam replied, looking fondly at Jack, obviously remembering. "You play anymore?"

Jack smiled and looked down. "No, I haven't played hockey in, oh gosh," he looked up, remembering. "30 years?"

"30?" Sue said and signed. Jack nodded.

"Well, I think you should come to the game on Christmas Eve morning. It's a bunch of us old fogies in town playing against Mazomanie. We'd love to have a young'un on our team!"

Jack laughed. "I don't think I'd be any good. Sue and I were ice skating last week, and she was showing me some tricks from her ice skating days, and I wasn't doing too good."

"Oh? You skated too?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"Figure skating." Sue clarified.

"Would you like to join us too?"

Sue smiled and shook her head.

"Well, if you change your mind, we're practicing today at 2 on the pond on 78, by the new subdivision on the south side of town. Just in case you want to come by." He smiled and winked.

"Ok," Jack said.

"Well, enjoy the museum!" Sam said, letting them pass.

"Will do." Jack said as they walked into the main part of the museum.

"He's nice." Sue said when they got out of hearing distance.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, he is. I admired him so much when I was a kid. He was my coach from when I was 7-10, while he was trying to get into the big leagues. When I was 10, he actually got in, but he lost so much when he did." Jack looked sad.

"What happened?" Sue asked.

"Well, when he got in, he moved to Madison, and forgot all about us. Even his fiancé." Eventually she moved on and moved away, heartbroken. When I was 15, Sam broke his leg and moved back here. No one around here wanted to talk to him-except for me. I still thought he was amazing. You know, someone from Black Earth making it big, right?"

Sue nodded.

"I found out he wasn't the same person that left, nor was he the same person that was in Madison either. He was broken too, same as his leg. No true friends in Madison. The only people who truly cared about him was us in town, except he found out that they wanted nothing to do with him when he came back. Ultimately he had no one."

"That's so sad." Sue looked down for a second, taking it all in. "Obviously that's not the case anymore, what happened?" Sue asked.

"Eventually almost everyone came around. They saw he wasn't the same person, and started accepting him again. It took a long time, but he's finally back as a member of the community again."

"What about his fiancé?"

Jack shook his head. "No one's ever heard from her again, not even her best friend, Ruth, last I know."

"That's so sad."

Jack nodded in agreement.

?-?

"Hey!" Mya said excitedly when she answered the door.

"Hey, your sister and friend are having a snowball fight down the street. Wanna join?" Josh asked.

"Sure! Lemme just get my snow stuff." She said excitedly, jumping and turning into the apartment to go into the closet.

"OK." Josh replied, coming in and sitting down on the couch to wait for her.

After about 2 minutes, she was ready. "You ready to beat my sister and friend?" she asked competitively.

Josh laughed. "What makes you think we will win?" he asked as he got up off the couch.

Mya shrugged as she closed and locked the door. "Women's intuition."

"Oh really?" Josh replied, laughing.


	7. Chapter 7

**NOTE TO JeanneJam: Thanks a lot, lol. I wasn't going to describe it, because that is a bit hard, but now you made me! I have a love/hate relationships with snowball fights. They're fun, but all they do is make you cold and wet. But they're perfect on screen! Very romantic :) As you might know, Hallmark's Christmas season has started, so that is what we're watching. Almost all the movies I've watched this week have had snowball fights in them, so I think it's a sign! Lol.**

**TRIVIA: this is a very remote trivia, but I've given clues about it in the story, and it's regarding something that was mentioned in a previous episode, so here it is: What did Mya find? (Clue: the title of this story is a clue :) )**

?-?

"Can anyone join?" Mya asked as she watched her sister and Katie play in the snow.

"Mya!" Maddy exclaimed seeing her sister and running to her. "Alright, we'll be on two teams, me and Katie on one, you and Josh on the other."

"OK," Mya smiled at her partner. He smiled back.

Both teams walked to an imaginary line in the snow that was never to be crossed by the other team, eyeing their competition.

"Ready?" Katie signed and said.

"Ready." Josh replied, signing as well.

"Go!" Maddy squealed, throwing a snowball at her sister.

"Hey!" Mya replied, trying to dodge the incoming ball.

Josh received a ball that hit him right on the face. "Hey, isn't there any no-hit areas?"

"NO!" all three girls exclaimed.

Josh smiled widely. "Alright, then you asked for it!" he threw a ball as Katie wasn't looking in his direction.

"Hey! Now my hair's wet!"

Josh shrugged. "Too bad." He then received a ball right on his shoulder, thrown by Maddy. He smiled, leaning down to make another snowball to throw at her.

Just then, a ball hit Mya straight in the face. She took in a few gasps of breaths. "Not fair!"

"Hey, you said no rules!" Katie teased.

"Ooh, you're going to get it now!" she replied, snowball in hand.

?-?

"What are you doing?" Donna asked, seeing her husband play around with a few Christmas decorations in the living room.

"Getting everything ready for when they get here." He replied.

"You know, everything's perfect the way it is," she said, wrapping her arm around his.

D nodded. "I know, but I really want to make it special."

Donna eyed her husband. "This is about your retirement, isn't it?"

"No," he paused. "Maybe."

"Don't worry, everything will be alright."

D smiled. "I know it is, cause you're right here with me.

Donna smiled back.

?-?

"I can't believe you guys won," Maddy said, partially angry, partially laughing.

"We just make a good team." Mya replied, smiling at Josh. He nodded.

"But hey, we had fun, right?" Katie countered.

"Yep!" Maddy exclaimed.

"Now, how about some hot chocolate?" Josh suggested.

"Yes!" the three women exclaimed.

?-?

"You're back!" Meagan said as her daughter and Bobby came through the door.

"Yeah, we spent a little bit of time in town."

"That's fine, you're just in time for lunch." Meagan replied.

"Great." Bobby muttered.

"Be nice." Darcy whispered, slapping him.

All through lunch, Bobby felt Ron glaring at him. It was worse than if SOG was watching him.

"So, FBI, huh?" Ron said halfway through the meal.

"Uh huh," Bobby said, nodding.

"I know a friend that used to work at the FBI, Washington, too. George Samson?"

"George? Yeah, I knew him! Good guy. We worked on a few cases together, back in the day." Bobby replied, happy to have some common ground.

In that moment, Ron's whole attitude changed towards Bobby. They spent the whole afternoon talking about everything, from sports to vacation spots.

Later that day, Darcy smiled at them, sitting on the couch, engaged in a lively conversation. "I told you that you guys were a lot alike." She said to herself.

?-?

After the museum, Jack and Sue went to the diner across the street.

"Ruth!" Jack exclaimed to the older woman standing by the door as the couple walked in.

"Jack! Ruth exclaimed when she looked up. "It's so good to see you! Sit anywhere." She said as she waved across the half-full diner.

Jack smiled, and led Sue to a table by the window in the corner. "This was Hailey and I's favorite booth to sit at growing up."

Sue looked back at the woman they had just met. Then she asked Jack, "Ruth, Sam's fiancé's friend Ruth?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, she and Claire, Sam's fiancé, had just purchased this diner right before Claire left. She's run it by herself ever since."

Within seconds, a young woman came by to take their order. Sue kept on looking at Ruth, thinking about what Jack had told her.

?-?

"Hello?" Mya said into her phone. They were at the Starbucks, enjoying their hot chocolate. "You did?! Really?!" she then excitedly got up and walked away.

"What's up with her?" Josh asked, confused by her enthusiasm. They weren't working on any cases, so he knew it couldn't be anything case-related.

"Don't know. She didn't tell us." Maddy explained. "It's something top-secret, though."

"Maybe she'll tell us now. She's coming back." Josh said, seeing Mya walking back to their table, the biggest smile on her face.

"I found it!" she excitedly said.

"Found what?" Josh asked.

Mya smiled widely. "You'll see."


	8. Chapter 8

**NOTE: Just a warning, I know nothing about details about hockey, and I think I used a soccer term. I'm not much of a sports person, so if I said anything inaccurate, please let me know! Thanks!**

?-?

"I like your family." Cathi said, walking next to Myles in town.

"And surprisingly, they like you." He returned.

"Surprisingly?" she asked, looking at him.

"Let's just say we haven't been on speaking terms regarding a lot of things over the years."

"Oh," Cathi said, understanding. "My Dad's the same way. Except we don't speak at all."

"Oh?" Myles asked.

Cathi nodded. "Ever since my Mom died, he just went into a hole, and hasn't come out since."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Cathi shrugged it off. "It's OK."

"No, it's not." Myles said, stopping. "You lost a parent because you lost the other. That had to have been so painful."

"I said, it's fine." She starting walking again.

Myles shrugged, watching after her. "She'll open up to me eventually." He said to himself.

?-?

Jack had seen an old friend in the diner and went over to say hello to them, so Sue took the opportunity that arrived.

"Ruth?"

"Yeah?" Ruth said, turning around at the sound of her name.

"Hi, I'm Sue." Sue waved.

"Yes, you're with Jack." She smiled at her.

Sue nodded. "I wanted to ask you," Sue started. "Jack was telling me about Sam's story, and how he was engaged to your friend,"

"Yeah, Claire." Ruth confirmed.

"I was wondering, do you ever talk to her?"

Ruth looked down at the floor, sad. "No, I haven't talked to her since she left. That was over 30 years ago. I miss her."

"What was her last name?"

"Why?" Ruth asked, confused.

"Well," Sue paused, trying to think of an excuse. "I have a prayer list, and I'd like to add her to it."

Ruth nodded, sadly smiling gratefully. "It was Jamison."

"Claire Jamison. Thank you." Sue smiled, going back to the booth before Jack missed her. She smiled widely as she looked at Jack for two reasons. One he knew, one he didn't.

?-?

"This is fun!" Tara said as Patty and Pete were in the kitchen, getting some afternoon snacks.

"Aren't my parents' traditions fun?" Caleb asked, hanging another ornament on the tree.

"Well," Tara paused. "Walking around the tree farm for an infinite amount of time wasn't fun, but everything else was!" she smiled at him. He smiled back.

Tara went back into the ornament box for another ornament.

"Tell me about this one," she said smiling, looking at a handmade ornament.

Caleb looked at it and laughed. "There's nothing to tell. I made it in school when I was 5."

"It's so cute!" she exclaimed, hanging it up on the tree.

Caleb just laughed at her enthusiasm.

?-?

"It's almost 2." Sue said, smiling at Jack, across from her.

"So?" Jack asked, confused.

"The practice hockey game is at 2."

Jack laughed. "Oh that."

"Why don't you help them out?"

"Because I haven't played in years. I'm too old."

Sue laughed. "You would be the youngest player there. I don't think you're too old."

"And how do you know I'd be the youngest?" Jack asked.

"Because Sam said so."

"He didn't say that exactly," he said, trying to get out of it.

"But he didn't say otherwise." She counterd.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Well?" Sue asked.

"Alright!" Jack gave in, getting up from the booth.

?-?

Donna answered the knock on the door. "Kids! Hi!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Mom." Davey said as his and Tanya's families piled through the front door.

"Hey, guys!" D said as he walked into the hallway. He and Donna hugged their kids and their spouses, and the grandkids.

"How are you doing?" Davey asked, knowing how his father was.

"Good. Now come on, let's get you all settled."

?-?

"This looks fun." Sue said, walking around the car to see all the older men playing hockey on the pond.

"Yeah," Jack reluctantly agreed.

"What did you play?" Sue asked.

"Goalie."

Sue looked out at the group. "Well, it looks like they desperately need one. No one is there."

"Yeah." With every second that he stood there, he regretted coming here.

"Come on," Sue said, pulling Jack's arm.

"Jack!" Sam exclaimed, seeing the pair coming towards them. "I'm glad you could join us! I had a feeling you guys would come, so I brought some extra skates. I hope they fit." He said, nodding towards a bench near the side of the lake.

"Come on, let's go," Sue said, still pulling on Jack.

Jack just sighed, letting in to her pulling.


	9. Chapter 9

"And why are we having a party?" Maddy complained to her sister as she put up decorations.

"Because I said so." Mya replied.

"But if Sarah Josh and Amy are already coming for Christmas, why are they coming for a party a few days before?"

"Because this is special. And I've invited a few other people than them too. Now, just do what I say. It needs to be perfect tonight." Mya smiled at the work they already did.

"Also, why are we putting up more decorations?" she asked.

"Because I said so."

Maddy glared at her sister and grumbled through the rest of the decorating.

?-?

Despite his reluctance, Jack really did have fun playing hockey again. He actually couldn't wait for Christmas Eve, now for two things-the hockey game, and for spending it with Sue for the first time in 10 years.

"I told you you'd have fun!" Sue said knowingly, on the way back to the house.

Jack laughed. "You were right."

"I thought we promised to listen to each other." Sue teased.

"Yes, we did. I'm sorry I didn't."

"Maybe I won't listen to you next time." She replied, looking out the window so that he couldn't say a thing in response.

Jack just laughed.

?-?

"Grandpa, when is Santa coming?" Matt, the youngest grandson asked.

D got down to be eye level with the young boy. "Soon. On Tuesday."

Matt's eyes grew wide. "Tuesday? That's like, forever!" he complained.

D smiled. "Those 3 days will pass by really quick. Besides, Grandma's going to take you all Christmas shopping tomorrow."

Matt frowned. "But I don't want to go shopping!" he pouted.

"What?! You don't want to go shopping at the toy store?!" D teased him.

"I do! I do!" his siblings and cousins excitedly said, coming into the room. Matt smiled at his Grandpa.

?-?

Jack frowned when he and Sue walked into the house.

"What's wrong?" Sue asked, seeing his face.

"YOUR MOM MY UNCLE FIGHT." He signed.

"See, I was right!" she exclaimed quietly. All Jack could do was laugh.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Sue asked, coming into the living room, finding Carla and Bob in a heated argument.

"This… this man," she couldn't finish the sentence.

"I was having a nice, calm conversation with her, and she just exploded." Bob calmly explained.

"Where's my parents?" Jack asked, looking around.

"Something about meeting Hailey, John and the kids at a restaurant for dinner?" Bob replied.

"I was calmly making dinner, and he comes in, criticizing my food!"

"Did not!" Bob rebuttled.

"Did too!"

"Alright!" Sue yelled. "I might not hear a thing, but your yelling is making me nuts!" she then calmed her voice. "Mom, do you think you could forgive and forget? Remember, we need to stay here for 5 more days."

Carla pursed her lips and looked at Bob. "I guess." She muttered.

"Good. Now say you're sorry, both of you."

They reluctantly did.

"Good." Sue smiled.

With that, the two went on the other side of the house form each other. Jack and Sue were left in the living room.

Jack laughed, touching Sue's shoulder. "You know, you'd make a great mother. You're great at calming arguments."

Sue smiled and blushed, thinking about when she was in a coma a month previously. "Yeah," she whispered, then quickly went upstairs.

?-?

"I'll get it!" Katie yelled after the doorbell rang. "Hi!" she said to Josh, flowers in hand, obviously for Mya.

"Hi Katie." He replied, looking over her shoulder for Mya.

"She's in the kitchen." Katie replied, knowing exactly what he was looking for.

"Hey," Josh said, coming in the kitchen.

"Hi." Mya nervously said.

"Don't be nervous. Everything will be fine." Josh said, seeing her pacing back and forth around the kitchen, preparing the hors d'oeuvres for the party.

"Yeah, well, I've never done this before. Why did I think of this as a gift? What if everything goes wrong?" Mya rambled on.

"Hey," Josh said softly, gently holding her by the arms. "Everything will be OK."

"You sure?" Mya asked, relaxing at his soothing touch. Josh nodded. "OK." She responded, wiggling out, and going back to the hors d'oeuvres.

"Hey," Josh said, trying to center her again.

Just then the doorbell rang again. Mya quickly peeked from around the kitchen doorway into the living room. She let out a sigh of relief. It was only Sarah and Amy, trying to have a conversation in sign. It was coming out OK. Mya ran back to the hors d'oeuvres.

"Mya."

"What?" she asked, looking at Josh. They just stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then the doorbell rang again.

"This is it!" Mya said nervously, going out to greet the new visitor.

?-?

They ate dinner in complete silence. Jack looked from Carla to Bob, then back at Carla. At least they were acting civil. If that meant silence, OK.

"THIS BETTER COMPARE ARGUE" Sue signed to Jack from across the table.

Jack sadly smiled and nodded. "YES BUT ME WANT THEM-TWO FRIENDS"

Sue nodded in understanding, looking at the two. Right now they were glaring at each other, but being silent. "I KNOW. MAYBE TIME."


	10. Chapter 10

**NOTE TO phyl7375: Lol, no, but if I was making this story into a real episode, traditional Christmas music would be playing throughout the whole thing :) (especially later on, you'll see where). Funny thing, usually, by this time of year, I'm ready to start listening to Christmas music. I am totally not ready this year. Watching Hallmark Christmas movies, yes. Listening to music, not yet (nor watching traditional Christmas movies, either). What's funnier is that I wrote this story in July, and I was not in the mood for Christmas at all, except for writing the story, lol. You'd think with all this Christmas writing I would be, but I'm not! :p If you have any other guesses of songs, it's still open for several more chapters!**

**NOTE: Here is the answer! Remember when Amy and Mya were talking?**

**NOTE 2: Did you know that you only can be Lutheran in Black Earth? That's the only church in town. Otherwise you'd have to travel to Mazomanie for other denominations. So ultimately, if Jack were really from Black Earth, he'd most likely Lutheran (of course, no one actually knows where in Wisconsin he's from). I get the feeling from the show (and I've mentioned this in his dialog in episode 7) that he is what I call a casual Christian (someone who believes in God, but doesn't really go to church, only on the needed holidays, and maybe a few other days. It's a step higher than agnostic.) He's never really mentioned faith that much in the show. But I think Sue brings his Christianity out of him (and that's also what I've written in his dialog) You can easily see Sue's strong faith, but I can't see Jack's very well in the show. That's how I got this opinion. I don't know, does anyone have any opinions on this? Sometimes I love writing the not mentioned parts of a character's life, but sometimes I hate it. Honestly, this is one of the times I hate it :) **

**TRIVIA: Who was Kristen?**

?-?

"Mya?"

"Uh huh." Mya nervously smiled to the man in the doorway.

"Is she here?" the man asked, looking around Mya's apartment.

Mya nodded, letting him in.

When Amy saw the new visitor, her eyes got wide. "JON?" she signed.

"YES." Jon signed and nodded.

"HOW-" she started, thinking. "HOW YOU HERE?"

Jon pointed to Mya, who was smiling. This was going pretty good, and was excited to see what would happen next.

Amy looked at Mya in shock. There were no words to describe in sign, or English, how she was feeling.

"YOU SAY ME YOU MISS YOUR FIRST SWEETHEART. ME FIND HIM!" Mya signed excitedly

"YES WOW." Amy signed back, looking back at Jon. "HI." She signed.

"HI." He replied.

"HOW YOU?"

"GOOD. YOU?" Jon asked.

"GOOD.

"ME FINISH MAKE FOOD." Mya signed, dragging Sarah, Maddy and Katie into the kitchen to let the two have some privacy. The 4 women jumped around and squealed quietly at the excitement.

Josh, who was still in the kitchen and stealing some hors d'oeuvres, just laughed and shook his head from the sight. "Women." He said quietly to himself.

?-?

"What're you doing?" Jack asked once he got Sue's attention. She was furiously typing on her computer.

"Uh, nothing." She said as she closed the laptop.

Jack laughed, knowing she was up to something. He sat down next to her at the dining room table. "I just wanted to tell you no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get an interpreter for church tomorrow, or on Christmas Day service."

Sue shrugged. "That's OK. It's hard to find interpreters in small towns like this. I understand."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I tried my hardest to find one for you."

"I know you did. I saw you calling all over before we even left D.C." Sue smiled.

He smiled back. "Alright, well, it's getting late, and about time for bed."

As Jack was getting up, Sue asked, "Hey, when do I get to meet Hailey?"

"Tomorrow. We're all going to church together. That's one thing we always did." Jack said, remembering. "Even when she moved to Middleton, she still traveled back home to go to church. Me, on the other hand, don't always go to church." He admitted, a bit embarrassed.

Sue chuckled. "I know."

"You know? I don't think I've ever told you that!" he asked in shock.

"I do work at the FBI, you know." She teased. "I have called you on a Sunday morning many times over the past 18 years, and I can tell I woke you up with my call."

"And how can you tell that? Unless we FaceTime, you can't see me, nor hear my voice to tell that?" Jack asked, intrigued.

"You say 'uh' or 'um' a lot, and you can also mumble or slur your words, making the interpreter sign the wrong word to me. Oh, and when you text when you're tired," Sue started chuckling.

Jack laughed as well. "Good detective. Maybe we're wasting your talents where you're at."

Sue shook her head. "I like where I am."

Jack just shook his head, thinking back to a few times when she did call on Sunday mornings. "Well, I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late."

"I won't." Sue said after him.

?-?

The women peeked from the kitchen doorway like schoolgirls, watching Amy and Jon.

"Why don't you just go in?" Josh said, startling Mya, resulting in a yelp.

"No!" she yell-whispered back.

"Why?" he asked, still chuckling from the scene.

"They need more time." She then smiled dreamily. "It's getting so good."

Josh just chuckled and shrugged, going back to stealing some food. No one was watching.

"Get away from the hors d'oeuvres." Mya quietly scolded.

Josh looked at her back and pursed his lips.

?-?

"You're still up?" Connie asked Sue, who was still working on her computer. Sunny, who was sleeping next to Sue, woke up and let her know someone was talking to her, so Sue looked up.

"Hi! How was your dinner?" Sue asked.

"Good. Why are you still up? We need to get up early for church you know."

Sue nodded. "I know, I just wanted to finish up something."

"You know," Connie said, sitting down in the chair next to Sue. "You are the only person other than Kristen that Jack has ever really talked about."

Sue nodded, remembering the story.

"You are something special to him. I just want to make sure you know that."

Sue nodded. "I know. He's special to me too. Honestly it's been just so hard to finally admit that after all these years." Sue confessed.

"Oh?" Connie asked, not hearing that part of the story.

Sue wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "Can I be honest with you?"

Connie nodded.

"But please don't tell Jack I said any of this."

"How do you sign promise?" Connie asked. Sue showed her.

"PROMISE." She repeated after Sue showed her.

Sue smiled. She had liked Connie from what Jack had said about his Mom, but now that she had met her, she liked her even more. She took a deep breath.

"I was attracted to Jack from the first time I met him. But because he was my training agent, I pushed those feelings down as far as I could. Except my friend Lucy kept on bringing them up again. That made me push them down even more. It wasn't until I came back a few months ago that I truly realized I loved him, and I always had, and I always will. When I realized this, I tried to push the feelings and Jack away, but they didn't stay away long." Sue paused, trying to explain in the least details that she could. "Then something happened, and I realized that I couldn't anymore. I just had to take the feelings as they were, see where they lead." She smiled. "And that led me here."

Connie smiled. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"After Jack met you, he was never the same-in a good way. A real good way." Connie smiled widely. "He loves you more than you ever could know. When you left, his whole demeanor was different. The moment you came back in his life, I knew in an instant that you were back."

Sue looked at Connie in disbelief. "Really?"

Connie nodded. "Mothers know these kind of things. When and Kristen broke up, he took it hard, real hard. But he got back up, and he met you. That had to be the best thing that happened in his life. And it still is." She smiled as she got up. "Now, get some sleep!"

Sue smiled. "Will do."


	11. Chapter 11

**NOTE: Sometimes it's really easy to know how to say something in sign, other times it's hard, so I do my best. Yet other times, it's REALLY hard to write, since I know EXACTLY (or almost exactly) how to sign the sentence (or really close) but you can't write what you sign! It just doesn't make sense in English! So it is the case with Amy's signing in this chapter. If you're totally confused with what was said, Amy's question translates to English as, "How did you know where to look for him?" Yes, I know, sometimes ASL gloss doesn't always make sense :p**

**NOTE 2: Really? No one remembers Kristen? No offense, but that's kinda shocking. It'll be open until Wednesday, so if you wanna just guess, that's fine!**

?-?

Sue happily looked around the old church the next morning. Compared to churches in D.C., it was a lot smaller, but it was cute. Connie and Bill went to say hello to some friends while Jack and Carla were in the back waiting for Hailey and the family. Sue sat in one of the pews, holding their place.

Sue saw a woman sit down next to her in her peripheral vision, so she looked over to her. She looked like a younger version of Connie.

"Hi, I'm Hailey." She said.

"Hailey! Hi! I'm Sue. It's so nice to finally meet you, I've heard so much about you." Sue said excitedly.

Just then, Sue saw Carla and Jack coming down the aisle, talking to a man, with a girl about 8, following. Hailey saw this too, and got up to let her family in.

"This is John, and Emily." Jack said, pointing to each new person, then fingerspelling the names.

"Hi!" Sue waved.

"Are you Uncle Jack's girlfriend?" Emily excitedly asked, bounding into the seat next to Sue.

Sue laughed at her enthusiasm. "Yes, I guess I am."

"Uncle Jack said that you can't hear, but you read my lips, is that really true?"

Sue nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, you don't need to interrogate Sue right now." Jack said, picking up Emily enough so he could slide in underneath her so that he was sitting on his lap, and he next to Sue.

"What does, intrugate mean?" she asked.

Jack chuckled at her pronunciation. "Interrogate means ask a lot of questions, which that is what you do," he said, tickling her, resulting in a burst of giggles from the each of them.

Sue laughed at the two. She could see how the two had a great relationship, even though they lived thousands of miles apart.

?-?

Mya awoke to knocking on the door, again. "Does anyone believe in sleeping anymore?" she mumbled to herself as she walked to the door.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU." Amy excitedly signed when Mya opened the door.

Mya laughed. "YOUR WELCOME."

"HOW YOU KNOW SEARCH?"

Mya chuckled. "ME REMEMBER YOU SAY ME ABOUT HIM. ME FIND HIM FOR YOU."

Amy smiled. "THANK YOU."

?-?

"It's like they have been best friends forever," Darcy said in awe, watching her Dad and Bobby have a long conversation.

"Yeah, and like they've forgotten us," Meagan said, picking up the breakfast dishes.

"Mhm," her daughter replied, helping her Mom.

"Hey, since they aren't going to finish their conversation anytime soon, why don't you and I go Christmas shopping today?" Megan asked when they both arrived at the sink.

"Sure! Let me just go grab my purse." Darcy said, putting the dishes in the sink.

Once her daughter was out of the kitchen, Megan looked at the dishes. "This can wait till later." She mumbled to herself, then walked back into the living room. "We're going Christmas shopping," Meagan said to her husband.

"Alright, sweetheart." Ron said without missing a beat with the conversation.

"They won't even know that we've gone," Megan said to her daughter as Darcy came into the living room, putting on her coat.

Darcy laughed. "You're right."

?-?

Tara sat on the couch with a cup of coffee, staring at the Christmas tree. When she saw Caleb come in, she said, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Caleb nodded. "Yep. Now come on, we'll be late."

Tara frowned at him. "For what?"

"For helping at the soup kitchen in town. We always help out during Christmastime. It's their most busiest time of the year. Now, are you coming?"

"Of course!" she replied, getting up.

?-?

"Uncle Jack, can we play hide and seek after lunch?" Emily asked at the table during lunch.

Jack chuckled. "You do know we've got a special guest. Maybe you might want to ask her?" he replied, hoping to get out of hide and seek duty.

"Well, would you?" Emily asked Sue.

"Mmm? Sorry, I didn't see what you said." Sue replied, realizing Emily was talking to her.

"Do ya wanna play hide and seek with me?"

Just then, Sue's phone vibrated, so she looked at it. "I'm sorry, I need to take this." Then she walked out of the room.

When she came back, she came up to Jack, a smile on her face. "Can I borrow the rental car for a couple hours?"

Jack frowned. "For what?"

"To go somewhere." She replied, not divulging details.

"Where?" he asked, confused. He knew she didn't know anyone or anything around, so he had no idea as to why she needed the car.

"Let's just say, I need to see someone about a Christmas gift."

"Christmas gifts! Can I come with?" Emily asked excitedly.

Knowing he wouldn't get anywhere with Sue, he shrugged. "Alright, they're in my jacket pocket. Text me when you get there, and are coming back, OK?"

Sue excitedly sort-of jumped, then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you!" As she was walking towards the door, she added, By the way, you need a shave."

Jack just shook his head and smiled.


	12. Chapter 12CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam!

**CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam! Sorry about that, I hadn't received anything, otherwise I would've posted the chapter!**

**TRIVIA: As I mentioned in the beginning, one part of the story is loosely based on one of my favorite Christmas songs. This chapter starts getting really into the songfic part (though that part of the story started chapters ago) If you can guess what song I'm basing the story on (in this chapter or any other chapter until the end), I'll give you an extra chapter! (clue: it's not a traditional Christmas Carol. It was released about 10 years ago or so to CCM radio [I've never heard it anywhere else, so maybe other locations? IDK]) You have 5 chapters before the answer!**

?-?

"I don't know," the woman said, looking around, nervous.

"Come on, it'll be fun." Sue coaxed.

"It's been so long."

"Yes, that's why you need to try." Sue widely smiled at her.

"Alright." She finally said.

?-?

Sunday afternoon was lazy for everyone, just spending time with their families. Some wrapped the gifts they bought that morning, some started preparing Christmas dinner. Some were even trying to peek into their gifts.

"No peeking." Caleb said, finding Tara looking at the gift under the tree marked for her.

"Aw, I was just looking."

Caleb laughed. "No you weren't I saw you."

Tara play-pouted at him, knowing that he did see her try and peek underneath the wrapping paper.

"C'mon. Why don't you help me edit the movie?"

"Sure!" Tara exclaimed, quickly getting up off the floor.

"I think it's coming along great, don't you?" he asked her.

Tara nodded. "Yep. I had a lot of fun."

Caleb smiled "Me too."

?-?

"Where have you been?" Jack asked once Sue came in the door and looked at him.

She shrugged. "Somewhere."

"It's almost dinner time."

"Good, I'm starved." She replied, going over to hang up her coat. "I heard that there's a big Christmas party at the elementary school gym on Christmas Eve."

Jack laughed. "Where did you hear that? There hasn't been a party there in years."

Sue frowned, then her face brightened up. "Why don't we bring it back? It would be a great way of spending Christmas Eve."

Now Jack laughed harder. "I don't think that would work. You see, we'd need permission from the principal, and who knows what else, party planning and prepping, and I don't think we could get that in a day. Besides, they stopped the Christmas party 20 years ago because people weren't coming. Back in the 30's and 40's, it was popular, but now, people like just sitting with their phones."

Sue nodded. "You wanna bet that I can get it back?" she challenged.

Jack chuckled. "Sure."

?-?

"If you don't like my cooking, why don't you go eat elsewhere?" Carla complained the next morning to Bob.

"I never said that! All I said was that maybe you could branch out and try something new." Bob countered.

"And why would I do that if everyone likes what I make now?"

"Alright!" Jack yelled, coming into the kitchen. No matter where he went, he always was in the middle of two people arguing, whether it be Bobby and Myles, or Carla and Bob. "Is there any compromise?" he asked.

"No." Carla replied.

"Yes." Bob replied.

They both said this at the exact same time.

The two frowned at each other.

Jack just shut his eyes and shook his head.

"How are you this morning, honey." Connie said, going up to her son and kissing his forehead.

"Fine. Where's Sue?"

"She left about a half hour ago. Something about a Christmas party?" Connie said, looking at him.

Jack just chuckled as he went to get his breakfast. "She's actually going through with it." He muttered to himself, a smile on his face.

?-?

"I don't know why we need to do this again, we just had a Christmas party." Maddy mumbled, putting up even more decorations around the apartment. "And why do we need more Christmas decorations? It already looks like a Christmas store in here." She asked louder.

"Because it's going to be Christmas Eve. We need everything really Christmassy." Mya replied.

Maddy frowned. Not the answer she was looking for.

"Look on the bright side-Katie offered to make Christmas dinner, so you got off that duty."

"Whoop de doo." Maddy replied sarcastically.

"Maddy." Mya said, coming up to her sister and touching her shoulder. "This is what you wanted. Staying home, and not spending Christmas with Mom and Dad. You know Mom would make us do a lot more Christmassy things than this, so please, don't ruin it for everyone else."

Maddy nodded. "You're right. I know. I'm just thinking about after Christmas, and taking all this junk down."

Mya laughed. "How about this, we have a de-decorating party, and invite some of our friends to help us take all of it down?"

Maddy smiled. "Sure!"

?-?

A man was walking out of the school just as Sue was coming up the path. "Excuse me," she said to him. He looked up from his phone. "I was wondering where I could find the principal?"

"Well, you're in luck. I'm he." He said proudly.

Sue smiled, glad that she found him. "I found out about the Christmas party that was in the gym years ago, and I was wondering if I could convince you to bring it back?" she looked at him hopefully.

The man laughed. "Oh you did, did you? There was a reason why we stopped it. I'm sorry, but I can't help you. Besides, Christmas Eve is tomorrow. There's nothing I can do." He started walking away.

"Wait," Sue raised her hand. "This is my first Christmas with Jack, we've known each other for years, but finally we're sort-of dating. He's from here and I've finally met his family. I want this first Christmas to be special. Also, there's another thing, I met this man…"


	13. Chapter 13

Sue came into the house, smiling. Jack was sitting on the couch, reading a book. When he heard her come in, he looked over. "What are you smiling about?" he asked after he waved at her.

"That I won." She replied, sitting down on the other couch.

"Won what?" Jack replied, forgetting all about the deal they made.

"The bet about getting the Christmas party back."

Jack looked at her in shock. "You what?"

Sue smiled widely. "I got the Christmas party back, at least for this year. Now, I need to ask Connie to call up all her friends in town so they know about it and can help us." She replied, getting up to go find Connie.

Jack just shook his head in response.

?-?

Jack watched Sue run around the house making all the plans for the party-until he was assigned to pick up the party decorations.

"But-" he started.

"No buts." Sue said. "Hailey, John and Emily are going to help you. By the time you pick up the decorations, they'll be waiting at the gym." She paused, looking at his shocked face. "Now go!" she shooed him out of the house.

He frowned at her as he was pushed out of the house.

?-?

"I don't know why I need to help you." Bob grumbled.

"Because we're guests. Everyone around town is doing their part, so Connie asked us to make a couple deserts for the party. One person is bringing a turkey, another some salad, and a few others some appetizers, side dishes, and a few other deserts. We need to make sure there's enough food for everyone." Carla explained.

Bob just grumbled. "I still don't see why I need to help you."

"Just do what I say." She said, throwing a apron at him.

?-?

"Uncle Jack!" Emily exclaimed, running up to him.

"Hey, Emily! Why don't you help me?" he said, handing her the smaller box that was on top of the larger, heavier one he was carrying into the schools' gym.

"Hey," Hailey said when Jack set down the box on one of the tables John had already set up for the food.

"Hey." He quickly smiled at his sister, then started taking out stuff from the box, handing Hailey some tablecloths for the tables.

"You must really love her,"

"Huh?" Jack asked, looking up.

"That you would do all this. You must really love Sue." Hailey explained, waving her free hand around the room.

Jack chuckled. "When Sue gets something in her mind, no one can change her mind, no matter what."

"Hrm, I wonder who that sounds like," Hailey teased.

Jack laughed. "Just get to work."

?-?

"But Sam, you just have to come!" Sue exclaimed. She went to the diner to tell people about the Christmas party, and found Sam having lunch there.

Sam shook his head. "No, I haven't gone to one of those in years, and I'm not starting again."

"But-"

"No buts. I met Claire there, and ever since I lost her, I have not gone back."

"Maybe if you try again, you'll find that it's different." Sue quietly said.

"No, it's too painful."

Sue pursed her lips. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where the whole town's going to be tomorrow night. Maybe you want to join us."

With that, Sue left the diner.

"You know, she's gone through a lot of work, planning a party in a day." Ruth said, coming up to Sam's table. "It's a shame that I'll be closed because I'm going to the party and you won't have your annual Christmas dinner here."

With that, Ruth walked away, Sam staring after her.

?-?

"Have I said before that I like your family?" Tara asked.

Caleb nodded. "I think so." He teased, scrubbing through some of the videos.

Tara sighed. "I just wish Christmas wasn't tomorrow and Wednesday, and I have to get back to work on Thursday. I would very much like to stay here."

"I know, we both need to go home."

"I wish time would stand still forever." Tara said, leaning up against him.

"Me too." He whispered back.

?-?

"I see you're enjoying yourself very much now." Darcy smiled.

"Mhm." Bobby nodded, smiling at her.

"See, I told you my Dad isn't that bad." She replied, leaning up against him on the couch.

"No, he isn't." Bobby replied. "He's actually great."

"I told you that. You didn't want to believe me."

Bobby laughed. "You're right."

"Maybe you should listen to me more often."

"Should I?" Bobby teased.

"Yes, you should." Darcy returned.

"Maybe I will next time. Or maybe the time after that."

"Ooh!" Darcy replied, swatting him on his arm.

?-?

"Wow." Sue replied, seeing what the four of them did with the gym in one afternoon. "This looks amazing!" she smiled at Jack.

"Yep, it does." He replied, smiling. "Now I can't wait until tomorrow night so I can have the first dance of the night with you."

"Who said you had to wait until tomorrow?" she teased.

"Alright," he replied, smiling widely, taking her, and spinning her around a few times.

"Alright lovebirds, we need to get home and have dinner. I would suggest you two do too." Hailey replied, laughing at the two.

Jack stopped dancing, and Sue looked at him for an explanation. "H-A-I-L-E-Y SAY THEM-THREE NEED GO HOME EAT. SHE SAY US-TWO NEED GO HOME EAT SAME."

Sue nodded. "You're right. It's already-" she looked at her watch. "7:00!"

"7:00?" Jack asked in disbelief, quickly grabbing his phone for confirmation. "We definitely need to go home, since you've recruited me into that hockey game in the morning." He replied to Sue.

"Hockey game? What hockey game?" Hailey asked.

"They're having a hockey game and I convinced Jack to help out. They desperately needed a goalie."

"And Sue's going to be a bit of a cheerleader." Jack added.

"Ooh!" Hailey responded. "Now this, I've got to see. See you in the morning!" she replied as she put on her gloves and walked out the door with her family.


	14. Chapter 14

**TRIVIA: What STFBEYE actor was in a movie that they did the same subject (not same thing, different scenario, but it's the same subject and state) that they do in this chapter? (and where I believe they got the idea for that character's backstory, like they parody everyone [I've found 2 parody backstories that I remember off the top of my head. There's probably many more that I haven't caught yet!]) Clue: It's not someone who's in DC in this story. Sorry to be so cryptic, but if I tell you any more, I'll give it away! Oh, and if anyone can name the other character backstory ideas that came from previous movies that they were in, I'll give you a chapter for each!**

?-?

"Mmm! What smells so good?" Sue asked as she came into the house.

"Carla and Bob had been baking up a storm all day." Connie said as they walked into the living room.

"Did I read you right? My Mom and Bob?" Sue asked, shocked.

Connie nodded. "With a few arguments here and there, but no catfights like it has been the last couple days."

Sue nodded in shock.

"How about some dinner?" Jack asked his Mom.

"We saved you guys some in the oven. Now, I'm off to bed. It's been a grueling day." Bob said, walking out of the kitchen.

"Grueling?!" Carla exclaimed, following him. "I did most of the work!"

They complained at each other all the way up the stairs. Jack watched the two of them.

"What's going on?" Sue asked quietly.

"YOU DON'T WANT KNOW." He signed.

?-?

Early Tuesday morning, Sunny woke Sue up.

"Merry Christmas." She said to her furry friend.

Sunny quietly woofed.

"Now, what to wear to the hockey game?" she asked mostly herself, going into her suitcase, looking through the clothes she brought. "This might do." She replied, pulling out a black sweater, black skinny jeans, and a sequin skirt.

?-?

"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" the grandkids exclaimed, jumping on D and Donna's bed.

"I think they might've had too many Christmas cookies last night." Donna said, putting the pillow over her head.

"Alright," D said, sitting up in bed and pulling down the kids one by one. "It's not Christmas yet! It's Christmas Eve. Christmas doesn't start until tonight."

"Aww!" they all said in unison.

"But we always can make a Christmassy breakfast!" he replied, getting out of bed. The kids all jumped up and down, giving ideas of what to make as they all walked to the kitchen.

"You do that. I'll stay here." Donna replied from under the pillow.

?-?

Jack whistled, seeing Sue come in the kitchen. "I wish we had cheerleaders like you when I was playing hockey."

"Hey," Connie said, slapping him lightly after she set down the bacon on the table.

"What?" he asked. All he got was a glare from his mother.

"So, are you ready to play hockey?" Sue asked, once sitting down.

"As ready as I'm going to be."

"I have confidence that you'll save the game." She replied.

Jack laughed. "Yeah, right.

?-?

"Good Christmas Eve morning!" Tara exclaimed, coming down the stairs.

"Good morning to you too," Caleb replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead as he walked to the coffeepot.

"What do you want to do today?" Patty asked when Tara sat down.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What would you like to do?" Pete asked.

"Don't you have a whole pile of things for us to do?" Tara asked, confused.

"Nope," Caleb replied. "We do everything on the days before Christmas, then lazily sit around on Christmas."

"Oh," Tara said.

"So if you'd like to do anything, just let us know." Pete said,

Tara smiled. "Will do, but I think I really like the idea of being lazy. We've done so much these past few days."

Everyone chuckled.

?-?

Mya was sleeping, but awoke when she heard pots and pan noises in the kitchen, and after that, she couldn't fall asleep again.

"Why do people keep on waking me up early in the morning!" Mya yelled when she walked in the kitchen.

"Well, so-ry. I was just trying to make breakfast." Maddy exclaimed.

"Sorry." Mya said quietly. "It's just really hard lately to get any morning sleep." She yawned.

"Well, breakfast is ready." Maddy said, setting down the food on the kitchen table.

"Thanks." Mya replied as she sat down next to Katie. She smiled at the reddish pancakes and the green eggs.

"I see you were in the Christmas mood." She replied to her sister when she sat down.

Maddy shrugged. "Christmas comes but once a year."

?-?

"Go team go!" Sue yelled. Someone had found some pompoms, and so she was skating around on the side of the rink before the game waving them all around.

"Since when do we have cheerleaders, Sam?" a man on the opposing team asked.

"She's our good luck charm." Jack replied, hearing the comment.

The men on the other team chuckled.

Sue looked over to the teams conversing nearby.

"They're really going to need it." She read one of the Mazomanie players say to another.

Sue frowned. "They don't know what they're getting themselves into. Black Earth is going to win." She looked at Jack. He was still a bit shaky on the ice, but that little lesson they had the week prior really helped.

"Ready?" one of the opposing players asked one of the Black Earth players.

"Ready." He replied, the referee throwing down the hockey puck.

"Go Black Earth!" Sue screamed as she watch the game unfold.

?-?

"Good Christmas morning, darlin'" Bobby said as he walked into the living room to find Darcy sitting there.

Darcy smiled at him. "Merry Christmas."

Bobby quickly grabbed a cup of coffee himself, then went over to sit by her.

"So," she started. "What did you get me?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." He smiled at her.

"No hints?"

Bobby shook his head.

"You're mean." She teased.

?-?

The game started a bit ago, and no one had scored a single point.

"Hey," Hailey said as she sat down next to Sue, who was sitting on the bench, skates still on.

"Hi!"

"How are they doing?" she asked, nodding towards the skaters.

Sue nodded, looking back at the game. "Good. No one has scored anything. Jack's blocked a point or two few times."

Hailey nodded, and watched the game with her.

The Mazomanie team tried again with no avail, and then the Black Earth team countered, resulting in a goal. Just about everyone cheered.

Soon enough, the game ended. Mazomanie 0, Black Earth 1.

"See, I told you Sue was a good luck charm!" Jack yelled over to Sam.

Soon, the game was over. Black Earth won. The whole team skated over to Sue. With a little help, they got Sue on Jack's shoulders, and the whole team skated around with them for a bit. Sue just laughed, embarrassed.

Finally, once everything settled down and everyone took off their equipment, Sue walked over to Sam.

"Good game." He said.

Sue nodded in reply. "Remember, the offer about the party still stands. This year. may be different." With that, Sue walked away.


	15. Chapter 15

**TRIVIA: This one's a REALLY easy one. But I had to put it in. How does Jack like Sue's hair?**

After the game, the group went home to quickly change, grab the food, then were going straight to the gym.

"Where's Jack?" Sue asked Connie and Carla, who were putting the deserts into a box, after she came downstairs to the kitchen after changing into her dress she was wearing to the party.

Jack touched her shoulder from behind her.

"Oh!" she said as she turned around quickly.

Jack smiled as he looked at her in her dress. It had a red bodice, and a long green skirt. And her hair was his favorite way. "YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL"

"THANK YOU. YOU SAME." She signed back, looking at him in his suit.

They both smiled at each other for a few seconds.

"Are you guys going to help us?" Carla asked.

Jack pointed towards her Mom. Sue turned around. "Here, let us help you get these to the car."

Once the food and people were in the car, they were off.

?-?

Mya answered the door.

"I brought some Christmas cookies!" Sarah exclaimed excitedly as she walked in. "I made them myself." She then frowned at them. "Sorry about the icing, it wasn't cooperating."

Mya laughed. "That's OK. It'll go perfect with the cake Maddy iced. There's cake pieces all over the icing."

"I can't help that the cake was falling apart on me!" Maddy exclaimed, coming in the room.

The two women laughed.

?-?

People started pouring into the gym soon after the Hudson's and Thomas' arrived, bringing plates and bowls of food. The food tables that John had set up the afternoon before were not enough, so he went to find some more.

"If you can, find some more round ones, almost all of the seats are filled already!" Hailey called after her husband.

"I can't believe this turnout!" Jack exclaimed, looking around. "And it's only 5, and the party actually starts at 7."

Sue looked proudly at him. "See? I told you."

Jack smiled at her. "I know, you're right."

"Yes, I am."

"I'm amazed that all this was able to be pulled off."

Sue smiled and looked around. "Everyone pitched in. Besides, I needed someplace to showcase my surprise."

"Oh?" Jack looked at her. She smiled, not saying another word.

Just then, the live band that someone had recruited started setting up and practicing. Jack looked over at the sound, then looked back at Sue. "YOU WANT DANCE YOU?"

Sue smiled widely and signed yes.

?-?

"We're just waiting for Amy and Jon." Katie replied to Josh as he came into the living room with her.

Josh nodded. "Alright, but it's already 5. You know how people are on Christmas, everyone comes, so if we want to get a seat for 6:00 church, we need to leave soon."

Katie nodded. "We know."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Alright! That'll be Amy and Jon! Let's go!" Mya said, running into the living room to answer the door.

?-?

Jack smiled all throughout their dance. The band was actually fairly good, once they got themselves together. A little bit later, people joined them on the little dance floor.

"Sue," Carla said, coming up at touching her shoulder. Sue turned around. "The principal wants you to come up and speak to initiate the start of the party, since this was your idea."

"Me?!" Sue asked, shocked.

Carla nodded.

"I don't know what to say!"

Jack touched her shoulder. "I'll come with you."

She smiled gratefully at him.

?-?

The D'Angelo tradition was to open their gifts on Christmas Eve, saving one, special gift for Christmas Day.

"I want you to open mine tonight." Bobby said to Darcy.

"But what if I want to open it as my special gift?"

Bobby shook his head. "Tonight. I'm sure your parents have another gift for tomorrow."

Darcy eyed him, but complied.

"Oh, Bobby." She whispered once she unwrapped the box and looked inside. "It's beautiful." She gently touched the silver necklace. It had two charms on it. One was a tiny pen, and the other was a tiny book.

"Because you wrote your way into my heart, like you write your stories." Bobby said as he took the necklace out of the box, and put it on her.

"Thank you." She whispered, smiling at him.

?-?

"Excuse me." Sue said into the microphone. She looked at Jack next to her to make sure that it was on, and people could hear her. He nodded.

"Excuse me." She said again. Eventually, people looked at her, up on stage.

"I just want to thank you all for coming. I really appreciate it. When I first heard about the Christmas party, then that it wasn't around anymore, I knew that I had to bring it back. This is my first time in Black Earth, though Jack grew up here." She looked at him for a few seconds, then back at the people. "Thank you for making my first visit special." She then noticed someone come into the gym, so she quickly ran down the stairs.

"Well, I'm here." He said when she came up close to him.

"Thank you for coming Sam." Sue smiled widely, knowing what was going to happen next.


	16. Chapter 16 CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam!

**CONGRATULATIONS JeanneJam! Funny thing, I saw your answer, and I was like, "down" what? And then I'm like, "Oh!" LOL!**

**NOTE: The trivia answer from a couple chapters ago was Yannick in Genius. In that movie, he plays a college student (don't ask me why, he was 30 at the time, lol) in Wisconsin who played hockey. That suspiciously sounded like Jack's backstory (sort-of), huh? (the movie was actually not bad, a traditional DCOM.) Other backstory roles would be Rick as Elvis, and Deanne as someone who reads lips to help solve a case (though I think on that one it's completely coincidental). Any more that I've missed? I've tried watching as many movies and TV shows that these actors have been in (that sounded interesting) for this very purpose, trivia. It's always fun to find a bit of Johnson brothers trivia! Theirs is a lot better than mine.**

?-?

After church, Mya, Maddy, Katie, Sarah, Josh, Amy and Jon came back to Mya and Maddy's apartment to have their little Christmas party. Katie went straight into the kitchen to start setting out the food. Everyone else sat down in the living room.

"THANK YOU AGAIN FOR FIND HIM." Amy signed happily to Mya.

Mya smiled. "NO PROBLEM."

"No, really," Jon said and signed. "If you never would've found me, I never would've realized that I've loved Amy since I was young. First a childhood crush," he looked at her and smiled. "And now true love." Amy smiled widely back.

"ME THINK SAME."

Josh, who was next to Mya, said, "What other tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

Mya shrugged, smiling. "I don't know, maybe you'll have to see to find out." She toyed.

Josh laughed.

"Christmas dinner is served!" Katie announced. Everyone went to sit down at the table and enjoy their Christmas feast.

?-?

"Sam! You came!" Jack exclaimed, seeing who Sue was talking to.

"I did. This little lady convinced me." He smiled and pointed at Sue. "And also because Ruth closed down the diner. She's the only good food around here, and I didn't dare try to cook anything myself."

The three laughed.

"Well, enjoy yourself." Jack said.

Sam smiled. "Will do. I'm off to find your mother's famous pumpkin pie. I know she made it. She does every year."

"Actually," Sue started. "My Mom and Jack's uncle made the deserts this year, but I did see a pumpkin pie."

"Oh really?" Sam asked, intrigued.

Sue nodded. "Yeah. Baking seemed to help them get along."

"They were at each other's throats since they met, and now they're civil to each other, mostly." Jack explained.

"Where are they now?" Sue asked, looking around the crowd of people. Then she spotted them. "Oh my," she said, smiling.

"What?" Jack asked when she looked at him.

"Look where they are." Sue said, slightly pointing in the direction.

When Jack found them, he started laughing. "I guess they really are getting along well."

Sue smiled, watching Carla and Bob dancing on the dance floor, smiling and talking with each other like normal people. No yelling, no complaining. Just dancing and taking happily. "I guess it must be the Christmas Spirit."

Jack nodded. "Yep, I think you may be right."

?-?

"So, what is everyone's Christmas traditions?" Maddy asked while everyone was eating.

"That's a long list." Sarah commented.

"Well, when do you usually open gifts? I kinda need to know so that I know when to give everyone their gifts." Maddy explained.

"I was thinking that we could open gifts after dinner, that way we'd be opening them together." Mya added.

Everyone nodded. "Good idea. I don't think I could wait to give you your gift until tomorrow." Josh replied. Mya looked at her food and blushed.

"I have a tradition that whenever we spent Christmas at Drew's parents we did during Christmas Eve Dinner." Sarah said.

"What was that?" Jon asked.

"We say one think we're grateful for."

"I like that! Let's do it." Maddy exclaimed. "You go first."

"Alright." Sarah said, in thought. "I'm grateful that I've patched things up with Drew, and that he will be coming to D.C. in a few days, and that we will spend our first New Years together in a long time."

"My turn." Jon said, who was next to Sarah. "I'm grateful that I found Amy, and that she took me back into her heart. I don't think I will ever be the same man again." He said and signed. Amy smiled and blushed.

"MY TURN." Amy signed. "ME GRATEFUL FOR FRIENDS, FAMILY BOTH. IF NOT FOR FRIENDS, ME NOT BE HERE."

"Alright, now, to not to really repeat anyone, I'll say that I'm grateful that I got this job, and that I met Mya." Josh said, who was next to Amy.

"You're making it really hard on me!" Mya exclaimed. "I'm grateful that we're all here, together. Spending Christmas here, with real good friends."

"I'm grateful that you've all welcomed me in. I know I'm Mya's friend, but you all have treated me like you've known me forever. Thank you." Katie said.

"And I'm stuck being last!" Maddy complained. She sat in thought for a few seconds. "This may seem odd, but I'm grateful that that guy stole my car, and forced me to stay here. If he didn't, then I would've stayed, and wouldn't've known you all. And I wouldn't've became friends again with my sister."

"That has to be the best one." Sarah replied.

"Really?" Maddy asked.

Sarah nodded.

?-?

Sue and Jack spent the evening with Sam, and he seemed to be really enjoying himself.

"Is that…" Sam's voice trailed off, seeing the person who just walked in the gym.

Jack looked in the direction Sam was. "Oh my," he said in shock, seeing Claire walk in.

Sue looked, then smiled widely. Jack noticed this, and signed, "YOU KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THIS YOU?"

Sue mischievously smiled. "MAYBE"

Jack just shook his head. "So that's where you went the other day, and found out about the party." He said quietly to himself.

"Why don't you go say hello?" Sue asked, seeing Sam's wide eyes.

Sam shook his head. "N-no. I couldn't."

"Why not?" Sue asked.

"She wouldn't talk to me."

"Maybe you'd be surprised." Sue smiled.


	17. Chapter 17

After dinner, everyone sat around the tree, and Maddy dispersed the presents.

"Mya, this is for you, this is for Amy," Maddy said as she read the tags and gave them to the recipient.

"This has to be the best Christmas I've had in a long time." Sarah sad as a gift was laid in her lap. "I'm having a lot of fun." She smiled at all the friends she'd made in a few short months.

?-?

Sue tried to coax Sam to go up to Claire, but he made an excuse every time. Finally, at a quarter till 11, he ran out of excuses, and walked up to her.

"YOU AMAZING." Jack signed, seeing Sam walk up to Claire. Sue just smiled and watched the two.

"Hi." Sam said to Claire's back. She turned around.

"Hi." She replied with mixed feelings.

"I wanted-"

I just-"

They said in unison.

"You first." Claire said, nodding.

Sam took in a breath. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened so long ago. I was a jerk, and I regret it with every breath I breathe."

"You weren't a jerk. You just lost your way." Claire said softly.

Sam looked at her in awe, shocked that she thought that way.

"And I've always loved you, even though what you did was wrong." She added.

He didn't know how to respond, but finally, he found the words he had been looking for for a long time. "Could you ever forgive me?" Sam asked.

Claire smiled. "I did that long ago. If I didn't, we wouldn't be standing here. I would have eaten at myself until there was nothing left."

Sam smiled as well. "Would you like to dance?"

Claire smiled widely. "Sure."

As they were walking towards the dance floor, Claire looked at the clock above the stage and laughed. "Is quarter till 11 your favorite time to ask me to dance? I seem to remember you did the same thing, oh, about 40 years ago."

Sam laughed along with her. "So it seems that I do."

?-?

After Sarah, Amy and Jon left, and Katie and Maddy went to bed, Josh and Mya stayed up and cleaned up a bit. After that, they sat on the couch.

"I have something for you." Mya said nervously, then leaned over to pull something out of the drawer underneath the lamp. She then handed it to him.

"What's this?" he asked, looking at her.

"It's a story I've written. You said you wanted to read one, so, here you go."

Josh smiled as he leafed through the pages. "You've written all this?"

Mya nodded. "I usually don't like sharing, but here it is. I want you to be the first person to read it."

"Wow, thank you." He whispered, then started reading the first page.

"Don't read here! That's too nerve-racking."

Josh laughed. "Alright, but know I'm probably going to spend the rest of the night reading this." He said as he held up the manuscript.

Mya smiled. "Alright."

He then got up, gave her a kiss on the forehead, then grabbed his coat. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She whispered.

?-?

Jack looked at Claire and Sam dancing. "You did a good thing." He said when Sue looked at him next. "I haven't seen them so happy in years."

Sue smiled at him. "I'm glad you think that."

Jack looked up. "You know where we're at?"

Sue looked up as well, then nodded.

You think we should follow the tradition?"

"Well, it is an ancient tradition," Sue countered.

"If it's that old, we should." Jack said, a big smile on his face

Sue nodded, smiling as well.

With that, he gave her a deep kiss, underneath the mistletoe.


	18. Chapter 18

**NOTE TO Phyl7375: Good guess! Sadly, no. But it's a good match for Sue and Jack!**

**NOTE: Anyone else think it's kinda funny that the last episode finishes on the day before Thanksgiving, the day before the Christmas season officially starts? (at least in the US) That made me think of a fun trivia. Let's see how close to New Years you all will guess the finishing of the New Years episode (which is next). If the correct answer is two posting days from the actual date of the final chapter, I will give that person an extra chapter from the new story. BUT if it is the exact date, I will give TWO chapters! For example, if I guess Wednesday January 1st, and the actual final chapter was Sunday December 29th, a chapter would be awarded (same as Wednesday December 25th, or Monday January 5th, or Wednesday the 8th.) If it's actually the 1st, 2 chapters will be awarded. Am I making sense? Remember to factor in you don't know how many chapters (it could be 5, it could be 25!), and trivia. There is a good amount, but some of the trivia is a bit harder, and some is super easy. Oh, and one entry per person. I will be taking entries until the 5th chapter!**

**TRIVIA: What do Sue and Jack sign to each other? I used the name of the sign, not what it means. Let's see if you know (or can guess) what it means in English! Correct answer gets the first chapter of the new story!**

?-?

"Merry Christmas!" everyone yelled when Tara came in the kitchen on Wednesday morning.

She smiled. "Merry Christmas."

"Which would you like to do first, gifts, or breakfast?" Caleb asked.

Tara smiled widely. "Give me a cup of coffee, and I will be good to go for gifts."

Caleb smiled, handing her a mug of coffee from the counter. "I was hoping you'd say that."

?-?

"Merry Christmas!" Maddy said when Mya came in the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Mya said and signed sleepily.

"Making breakfast." She said proudly. "I know I wasn't very nice the past few days, so I thought I'd make it up to you."

Mya smiled, side-hugging her sister. "It's fine. You weren't that bad. I've been worse."

"You?" Maddy asked, shocked.

"Let me tell you what happened after I left, and got my job at the FBI. That wasn't very nice…"

?-?

D and Donna happily smiled as they watched the grandkids excitedly open all their gifts. The day was finally here, and they were grateful. One more question of 'when will we get to open our gifts' would probably put them over the edge.

"For me?" Donna asked, surprised when Sophie gave her a little box.

"Remember when we were baking cookies the other day? I made a special one just for you."

Donna smiled as she opened the box to find an oddly shaped cookie. "How did you do this? I was by the stove the whole time, and you weren't supposed to be by the stove." She lightly scolded.

Sophie smiled. "Grandpa helped me."

"Oh, you did, did you?" Donna smiled at her husband.

"When she asked me, I had to do something." He countered.

"I love you." She said, giving him a kiss. She then tuned to Sophie. "I love this!" she looked at the cookie, a sign of love from her granddaughter. She would treasure this cookie for the rest of her life.

?-?

Sue happily but sleepily sat through Christmas morning church. They didn't get home until 2AM the night before, and getting up at 8 for church at 9 didn't help.

"I'll take a nap when we get back." She said to herself as she was trying to stay awake.

She had just closed her eyes for a second, going back to the night before, thinking of the fun night they'd had, when she felt Jack touch her shoulder.

"ILY" he signed.

"ILY" she signed back. She then turned back to the pastor. "This is the most perfect Christmas." She thought to herself.

?-?

"Merry Christmas." Cathi said quietly as she came down the stairs.

"Merry Christmas." Myles returned.

"I'm sorry." She said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Myles frowned. "For what?"

"I've brought up so much of my hurt on you the other day, and a couple weeks ago as well. I never meant for all this to happen."

"Hey," he said softly, laying his hand on hers, interrupting her rant she was going to go into. "It's fine. We all have hurt. No one can avoid it, especially when you get older. Now that you've let your guard down this past couple weeks, I've found that we're completely different from each other, but that's OK. I love you for who you truly are, not for who you were forcing yourself to be." Myles tried to read Cathi's face. It was filled with so many emotions.

"I just-" she started.

"Let's just have a wonderful Christmas, and deal with our problems next week, after all the holidays have past, OK?"

Cathi smiled. "OK."

?-?

"Merry Christmas." Josh said.

"Merry Christmas." Mya returned to the caller.

"I just wanted to wish you all a happy Christmas on the day."

Mya chuckled. "You did, yesterday. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the same to me."

"Well, it isn't for me. They mean two separate things, so I thought I'd wish you a merry Christmas on both days."

"Well, thank you." Mya returned.

"Have you decided on what to do today?"

"No, not yet. Katie's still asleep. We'll decide when she gets up."

"Well, if you're interested, I will be sitting in a certain Starbucks window, sipping some hot chocolate, and re-reading this great new author."

Mya laughed.

"If anyone decides to join me, I couldn't help but offer them some hot chocolate."

"We just might take you up on that offer." Mya smiled.

"Good." She could hear his smile in his voice. "So see you later, then."

"See you later." She replied.

?-?

"So, do you like your gift?" Darcy asked.

"Of course! I LOVE it!" Bobby exclaimed, looking at it again.

"When I saw it, I just thought of you."

"Well, thank you, I love it." He said, then gave her a kiss.

"Breakfast's ready!" Meagan called.

"Be there in a sec!" Darcy called, then went back to kissing Bobby for a few more seconds. Eventually, they had to go in the kitchen, otherwise her parents would be suspicious.

"Maybe later, eh?" He asked her.

Darcy nodded. "Definitely."

?-? **LISTEN TO: His Favorite Christmas Story by Capital Lights**

"Gift time!" Emily yelled, running into the house as soon as Bill opened the door. Everyone chuckled at her youthful enthusiasm.

"Let's get our coats and shoes off, and we'll be there." Connie said, taking off her coat. They all walked into the living room and sat down.

While Emily was furiously ripping through her gifts, Jack sat down next to Sue, pulled out a little box out of his pocket, and gave it to her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Your Christmas gift." He smiled.

She looked at him, then opened the box. Inside there was a single key. She looked at him for answers.

"Remember what I said that I wasn't going to give you any clues?" she nodded. "Well, I lied. Here's a clue."

"A key?" Sue asked, totally perplexed. "What is it for?"

"That, you will have to wait and see." Slowly and silently, he leaned in to her, and even though there was so much excitement, movement and noise, neither heard it, and they kissed. It was like there was no one there, except the two.

After they parted, Sue said, "This is definitely the best Christmas ever." She then looked at her hand, which was still holding the key. "But I really wish I knew where this went to!"

Jack chuckled. "You will-soon."

THE END


End file.
